According to the Cosmic Baseball Research Association's Jack Kerouac chronology, March 4 is the day that Neal Cassady left New York City after his first visit there (and meeting Kerouac, Ginsberg, et al.). It is widely accepted that Neal was a huge influence on Kerouac's spontaneous writing style, perhaps the singularly important influence (see in particular my January 4, blog).
Jack meeting Neal was monumental: Neal inspired On The Road, the defining novel of the beat generation! No Neal, no On The Road. Think of it!
Your Kerouaction today is to go somewhere you've never been. Maybe you'll meet your Neal Cassady. It doesn't have to be another country, state, or even town. Have a beer at a bar you've never been in before. Eat a beat meal at a restaurant you've never patronized. Go to that museum you've always threatened to visit.
The point is, go somewhere new. Today.
huh...I could not have stumbled upon this blog on a more perfect day...
ReplyDeleteMy philosophy class was canceled today, and as I sat outside in the sunshine waiting for my boyfriend, I was looking at the skyline and thinking to myself "this is Neal's Denver...I can see the capitol building, and I know that a few blocks beyond that is the apartment Ginsberg lived in...This is Kerouac's Denver..." And I kept repeating in my head "where are we going, man? I don't know, but we gotta go!"
About an hour later, my boyfriend and I stopped in the Wazee Supper Club(somewhere we'd never been...) for a beer and a sandwich...and as we were sitting there he was like "so this place has been a restaurant for 30 years, but before that, it was part of a hotel...this coulda been a Kerouac bar...or more likely a Cassiday bar.."...without me even telling him of my hour of reminiscing of a time I never lived...
And then, some 3 hours later, I stumble upon this blog...
Its a Kerouac kinda day, I tell ya...
Awesome - I definitely want to go go go to Denver some day and walk where Jack and Neal walked!
ReplyDeleteYour post puts you strongly in the running for March's free book!